George Clooney: Map

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George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an
American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. Clooney
has balanced his performances in big-budget blockbusters with work as a producer and
director behind commercially riskier projects, as well as social
and liberal political activism. On January 31, 2008, the United Nations named Clooney a "Messenger of
Peace."

Clooney
began his education at the Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell,
Kentucky.Spending part of his childhood in Ohio, he attended
St. Michael's School in Columbus, St. Susanna
School in Mason,
Ohio. In middle school, Clooney developed Bell's palsy, a debilitating condition that
partially paralyzes the face. The malady went away within a year.
"That was the worst time of my life," he told the Mirror
in 2003. "You know how cruel kids can be. I was mocked and taunted,
but the experience made me stronger."

His
parents eventually moved to Augusta, Kentucky,
where Clooney attended Augusta High School.
He has stated that he earned all As and a B in school, and was an
enthusiastic baseball and basketball player. He had considered a
career in Law at this time, but later retracted. He tried out with
the Cincinnati Reds in 1977 to play
professional baseball, but was not offered a contract. He did not
pass the first round of player cuts. He attended Northern
Kentucky University from 1979 to 1981 and, very briefly, the University of
Cincinnati, but did not graduate from either. He had
such odd jobs as selling mens' suits and cutting tobacco.

Career

Early roles

His first major role came in 1984 in the sitcom E/R (not be confused with ER, which was a decade later). He played
a handyman on the series The Facts of Life. He
played Bobby the detective on one episode of The Golden Girls. His first
significant break was a semi-regular supporting role in the sitcom
Roseanne, playing
Roseanne Barr's overbearing boss
Booker Brooks, followed by the role of a construction worker on
Baby Talk and then as a sexy
detective on Sisters.
In 1988, Clooney also played a role in Return of the Killer
Tomatoes.

Initial success

Clooney achieved stardom when he was selected to play Dr. Doug Ross, opposite Anthony Edwards's and Noah Wyle's character on the hit NBC drama
ER from 1994 to 1999 and
returned for a guest spot in the show's 15th and final season.
Clooney was also partnered with Deborah Leoni in their production
company Mirador Entertainment.

He made his directorial debut in the 2002 film Confessions of a Dangerous
Mind, an adaptation of the autobiography of TV producer
Chuck Barris. Though the movie didn't
do well at the box office, Clooney's direction was praised among
critics and audiences alike.

After the success of Good Night, and Good Luck, Clooney
said he planned to devote more of his energy to directing. He said
that the directing industry is "a great industry to grow old in."
Clooney directed the film Leatherheads, in which he also stars.
Clooney is self-deprecating in interviews, telling STV in April 2008 that Leatherheads, one of his
lightest movies, is a "cry for peace." In the same interview, when
asked about reconciling George Clooney the actor and George Clooney
the director, he said "there's a lot of ego there... so I just take
it out on the actors."

On July 8, 2005, news reports said that Clooney would be working
with Cindy Crawford's husband
Rande Gerber to design and build a new
casino hotel in Las Vegas. On August 29, the same year, Clooney
officially announced his involvement with the Las Ramblas Resort project. However, the
project never came to fruition, and the property on which the
resort was to be built was sold in June 2006.

After
serving as pitchman outside the US for products like Fiat, Nespresso and Martini
vermouth, Clooney lent his voice to a series of Budweiser ads beginning in 2005
(which were still running as of September 2007). In
September 2007, Clooney defended his work when asked by an Italian
journalist, Alex Meenehan, how he reconciled advertising
multinational companies' products with the purpose of Michael
Clayton, the film he was currently introducing in the Venice Films
Festival.

In August 2006, Clooney and Grant Heslov started a new company:
Smokehouse Pictures. Heslov was the president of
television at Section Eight
Productions, Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh's production company.
Clooney is creating and producing a television series for Showtime titled The Fall of Bob. It is a
half-hour, single-camera black comedy-drama about a man who is
committing suicide while a lengthy flashback occurs of what
happened before his death.

In July 2008, Clooney was declared the worst Batman portrayed
onscreen. "Batman should be obsessed and blindered […] but Clooney
is all cool, ironic detachment and self-awareness." No comment has
been heard from the actor. However, he has publicly criticized his
own portrayal of Batman several times.

2007 motorcycle accident

On
September 21, 2007, Clooney and girlfriend Sarah Larson were injured in a motorcycle
accident in Weehawken, New Jersey. Clooney's motorcycle was hit by
a car. The driver of the car reported that Clooney attempted to
pass on the right, while Clooney stated that the driver signaled
left and then decided to make an abrupt right turn and clipped the
motorcycle. Clooney suffered a broken rib, road rash, and brain injury with complications
resulting from a punctured dura.
He was
treated and released from the Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, New Jersey. On October 9, 2007, more than
two dozen hospital staff members were suspended without pay for
looking at Clooney's medical records in violation of federal law.
Clooney himself quickly issued a statement on the hospital records
matter, saying no one should be punished. He said "This is the
first I've heard of it. And while I very much believe in a
patient's right to privacy, I would
hope that this could be settled without suspending medical
workers."

Pets

Clooney had a 280-pound Vietnamese black-bristled pot-bellied pig, named Max, that had lived with him for eighteen years.
He initially gave him as a gift to former live-in girlfriend
Kelly Preston but she let him keep Max
after their break-up. Max died on December 1, 2006. He also had two
bulldogs, named Bud and Lou, after the famous comedy team Abbott and Costello. Both of the dogs
have since died, one from a rattlesnake
bite.

Leatherheads controversy

It was reported on April 4, 2008 in Variety that Clooney had quietly
resigned from the Writers Guild
of America over controversy surrounding Leatherheads.
Clooney, who is the director, producer, and star of the film,
stated that he had contributed in writing, "all but two scenes," of
the film and requested a writing credit, alongside Duncan Brantley
and Rick Reilly, who had been working on
the project for 17 years. In an arbitration vote, Clooney lost 2–1
and ultimately decided to withdraw from the union over the
decision. Clooney is now technically a "financial core status"
nonmember, meaning he loses his voting rights, and cannot run for
office or attend membership meetings, according to the WGA's
constitution. He must continue to pay his dues, but gets a break on
"non-germane" WGA activities, such as political and lobbying
efforts. His decision is also irrevocable. Beforehand, Clooney was
an active member of the WGA, even receiving an Academy Award-nomination for writing Good
Night and Good Luck. He is currently writing two screenplays
with Grant Heslov.

Charlton Heston controversy

Michelle Solomon wrote in her article Celebrity Chatter: Up-Close
With George Clooney, published in Staff Writer (2/3/03) "On the
same day we spoke, headlines had just broke that Clooney was at a
dinner for film awards and made what some people perceived as an
inappropriate remark about Charlton
Heston. As first reported by syndicated columnist Liz Smith,
Clooney was speaking at a National Board of Review event and said:
"Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from
Alzheimer's." Recounting this, Clooney said, "It was a joke,...
They got the quote wrong. What I said was 'The head of the NRA
announced today ...' (Filmmaker) Michael Moore had just gotten an
award. Anyway, Charlton Heston shows up with guns over his head
after a school shooting and then says in the documentary it's
because of ethnic diversity that we have problems with violence in
America. I think he's going to have to take whatever hits he gets.
It was just a joke. That was someone else trying to make a bigger
story." When asked if the actor went too far with his remarks,
Clooney responded by saying, "I don't care. Charlton Heston is
the head of the National Rifle Association; he deserves whatever anyone says about
him."

Heston himself commented, "It just goes to show that sometimes
class does skip a generation," referring to Clooney's late aunt,
Rosemary Clooney. Heston further
commented on the Clooney joke: "I don't know the man—never met him,
never even spoken to him, but I feel sorry for George Clooney—one
day he may get Alzheimer's disease. I served my country in World
War II. I survived that—I guess I can survive some bad words from
this fellow". Clooney said he subsequently apologized to Heston in
a letter, and that he received a positive response from Heston's
wife.

Politics and advocacy

Clooney is a self-described political liberal. Speaking about the
Iraq war: "You can't beat your enemy
anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of
people seeking revenge. These days it only matters who's in charge.
Right now that's us—for a while at least. Our opponents are going
to resort to car bombs and suicide
attacks because they have no other way to win.... I believe
(Rumsfeld) thinks this is a war that
can be won, but there is no such thing anymore. We can't beat
anyone anymore."

Clooney is noted for his public criticisms of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. On January 16, 2006, during his
acceptance speech for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance
by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Syriana, Clooney
paused to sarcastically thank Abramoff before adding, "Who would
name their kid Jack with the word ‘off’ at the end of your last
name? No wonder that guy is screwed up!"

There has
been movement to try to convince Clooney to run for political
office in his home state of Kentucky, including talk of a Clooney candidacy for US Senate against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2008. In response,
Clooney has said: "Run for office? No. I've slept with too many
women, I've done too many drugs, and I've been to too many
parties." Clooney supported President Barack Obama during Obama's campaign run in the
2008
presidential election.

Save Darfur

Clooney is named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People
in the World for "using star power to illuminate the crisis in
Darfur." After making his first trip to Darfur in 2006, Clooney
made the TV special A Journey to Darfur with his father Nick, and
advocated for action in the US. Author Ishmael Beah writes: "He has
used his fame to speak wholeheartedly for those who cannot speak,
with genuine concern and insight and a deep commitment and
selflessness that is rare but does not have to be."

Clooney is active in advocating a resolution of the Darfur conflict. His efforts include an
episode of Oprah and speaking at the Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C.,
on April 30, 2006.

In 2006, he was involved in several events to highlight the issue.
In April, he spent ten days in Chad and Sudan with his father to
make a film in order to show the dramatic situation of Darfur's
refugees. In September, he spoke in front of the Security Council
of the UN with Nobel Prize-winner Elie
Wiesel to ask the UN to find a solution to the conflict and to
help the people of Darfur. In December, he made a trip to China and
Egypt with Don Cheadle and two Olympic
winners to ask both governments to pressure Sudan's
government.

In 2006, Clooney and his father, journalist Nick Clooney, travelled
to Darfur and filmed a documentary, A Journey to Darfur,
which was broadcast on American cable TV as well as in the UK and
France. In 2008, it was released on DVD with the proceeds from its
sale being donated to the International Rescue
Committee.

On March 25, 2007, he sent an open letter to German chancellor
Angela Merkel, calling on the European
Union to take "decisive action" in the region in the face of
Omar al-Bashir's failure to respond
to the UN resolutions. Clooney appeared in the documentary film
Darfur Now, a call to action
film for people all over the world to help stop the ongoing crisis
in Darfur. The film was released on November 2, 2007.

On December 13, 2007, Clooney and fellow actor Don Cheadle were presented with the Summit Peace
Award by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome. In his acceptance
speech Clooney said that he and Cheadle "Don and I…stand here
before you as failures. The simple truth is that when it comes to
the atrocities in Darfur…those people are not better off now than
they were years ago."

On January 18, 2008, the United Nations announced Clooney's
appointment as a United Nations messenger of peace, effective from
January 31. In February 2009, he visited Goz Beida, Chad with NY
Times columnist Nicholas Kristof.